The present invention relates to chewing gums and more particularly to chewing gums exhibiting improved mouth feel and flavor retention while exhibiting simultaneously little or no tendency to adhere to the hard surfaces within the mouth, including teeth, fillings, dentures, and the like.
It is widely recognized that conventional chewing gum has a well-known tendency to stick not only to itself but also to any surface with which it comes into contact. Thus, it has generally been accepted that chewing gum is necessarily tacky, once it is masticated and moistened, such that it will adhere to floors, pavement, wastebaskets, and the like, a phenomenon which is a familiar part of the everyday world.
However, this tendency to adhere to surfaces also gives the gum a tendency to adhere to solid surfaces within the mouth, including the surfaces of the natural teeth, to fillings and particularly to other dental work such as crowns, bridges, and most particularly dentures. This tendency of chewing gum to adhere to such surfaces has generally been assumed to be a necessary draw-back to be tolerated if one wishes to enjoy the more desirable aspects of chewing gum.
Attempts to modify the tendency of chewing gum to stick where it is not desired, such as to dental work in the mouth, have not surprisingly led to modified gum formulations which have proven unattractive for any of a variety of reasons. The problem can be summarized by recognizing that a chewing gum formulation requires a careful balancing of the identities, properties, and amounts of the components which make up the chewing gum base, as well as of those components which are added to the gum base such as extenders, flavorants, sweeteners, and the like. Thus, it can be appreciated that alteration of one or more aspects of a chewing gum formulation, whether it be changing ingredients, amounts, ratios of ingredients, or any other aspect, may have an unpredictable effect on the properties of the chewing gum product. Thus, any adjustment to a chewing gum formulation in the attempt to reduce the tendency of the gum to stick to dental surfaces in the mouth runs a significant risk of sacrificing one or more of a gum's more desirable properties enumerated herein. In that case, a gum exhibiting a lessened tendency to stick to dental work will nonetheless not be a satisfactory product.
Thus, there remains a need for a chewing gum formulation having a reduced tendency, or complete freedom, from adhering to dental work in the mouth, which retains or even improves the other properties which are all desired of a commercially satisfactory chewing gum formulation.